I think term your referring to is "interference".

I hope you didn't stay up just to answer my questions. I'm in no rush and can wait. It isn't that important. That is one of the things that is great about forums. You are notified when someone responds at their earliest convenience.

Catch up on your rest!

Thanks,

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Rob
1971 240z

Zzzzzzz....snort...what? what? Yes, right, interference, thank you!....Zzzzzzzz...

(My computer blares "Ride of the Valkyries" at full volume whenever you make an entry. No chance of sleeping thru that....)

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1970 240Z

Just did a compression test. Cyl 1 and 3 have the highest compression at 120/170 (dry/wet) and everything else was 110/165. Cheap rental gauge but the numbers are consistent. Going to see if I can work some magic to get it to start with this borrowed battery

EDIT: My gas pedal feels reallly close the the firewall and ive only got about 2 inches of movement. I noticed it towards the end of my journey with the Holley (probably because I was losing power and had to floor it to move at a reasonable pace). Ill get some pics uploaded later.

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71' 240Z: HLS3040666

After all these adjustments, one would think that Id try putting retarding my timing from its fully advanced point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aozRfs7S ... e=youtu.be

Ran on starting fluid before the pops

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71' 240Z: HLS3040666

is it running now?

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Rob
1971 240z

Seems like everytime im about to make a breakthrough the battery im using dies. Got it going without starting fluid using the chokes and it made a ton of smoke burning up the oil that I had poured into the cylinder and that had gotten on my header. Hopefully now all I have left to do is tune the carbs and figure out how to work this timing light

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71' 240Z: HLS3040666

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1970 240Z

First ill have to get my car to idle by itself so I can get out and use it! I see the zero mark on the front cover, but I cant find the markings on the crank pulley. Am I just trying to get to 17 degrees? Im a bit fuzzy as to what the timing light will accomplish if im not sure if the cam is stock or any other engine modifications

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71' 240Z: HLS3040666

The car is running and driving now but my timing is now fully retarded . Seemed like it wanted to be a little more retarded but I thought that was just me not hearing the car for a while. Drove it around to warm it up and redid the valve clearances. Started her up again and did a couple of test laps around the block for about 5 minutes before I noticed that the car was starting to overheat. Pulled back into the driveway and remembered that I had cut the hoses going into/out of the heater core and just ran the hose from the 90 degree pipe at end of the block directly into the 3 way coolant pipe on the side of the engine. It was a little crimped from the pressure, but water could still flow through it. Some searching showed me that timing can cause overheating and it looks like the overheating/running a little rough is because the timing is a little off.

Typing this now I hope I can wake up tomorrow morning and realize that I wired the plugs improperly, but If I didnt, what can I do? Fabricate a plastic arm to allow it to retard some more.Can I start counting the plugs up/down one post to prevent from always being fully advanced/retarded? It looks like the distributor plate for the electric distributor cant move as far as the old one, but the old one doesnt fit on this one. Sooooo close to getting it running right!

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71' 240Z: HLS3040666

Sounds like you are getting close and at least it's running now. For the timing, what is telling you that you think it needs to be retarded more? These engines like some advance in the timing normally. Frank was mentioning your engine is not stock, so I would be careful advancing it to much though.

You could have had air in the coolant system when you refilled it after taking the radiator out. You should check the coolant lavel now after driving it. Also, did you run 50/50 coolant water. 100% coolant doesn't cool as well and it has been really hot out. Hot enough for these old cars to struggle to keep cool.

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Rob
1971 240z

I cant really describe it, but it doesnt sound like it used to and doesnt run as smooth. When I get on the gas it feels like im hurting the car (itll get up and go but it feels like it doesnt really want to).The car would only start retarded a bit and trying to advance it dropped the RPMs and made it run shakier. Retarding the timing made it run smoother and faster until I hit the end of my turning radius.

Before I was running 75/25 water/coolant but I thought id try the water wetter so now im running with the coolant/water that was left in the radiator when I pulled it and the rest water (distilled) until I can make it to the parts store. I did notice that I didnt even use a gallon of water when before it took a gallon and a half and a great deal of it had been drained when I pulled the radiator. If you keep advancing a distributor wont it eventually become retarded? Are the stops there to prevent that? The overheating may be in part because of my coolant system setup, but it feels like im bending my cars arm behind its back when its running and driving. Along with the way its running here are some explanations I found on the internet that are also influencing my opinion on timing being the issue:

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71' 240Z: HLS3040666

Goofed again. For some reason I associated clockwise with retarding so the car is still fully advanced but it still doesnt feel like its as advanced as it needs/wants to be. Going to put the points back in to see if the distributor mount is the problem

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71' 240Z: HLS3040666

Running a car at 20 something degrees of advance to 30 something degrees of advance doesn't usually change how smooth the engine runs. Usually more advance makes more power to a point, but it would be hard to tell the difference. Something else is probably causing your problem.

Is your vacuum advance hooked up?

How will changing back to points tell you if the mount is the problem? I don't follow that logic.

Are you at the point that it is running well, but just fine tuning it? That is when fine tuning the advance will make a small difference but not really how smooth it runs.

Can you post another video showing how it idles and how it sounds when it revs?

What was done with the clogged return gas line?

How are the carbs set right now?

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Rob
1971 240z

Right now its running and driving and like you said when I popped the radiator cap I couldnt even see the water level. Filled it up, drove around and now its running 1/4 of the way over the half line on the temp gauge, but still lacking power and feels like im really pushing the car.

I thought the mounts were different for the distributors and believed that I could advance the car more with my other distributor. Threw it back in and the car wouldnt start in any orientation. Drove around about with the electric distributor, pulled over to remove the screw that prevents the distributor from spinning, and advanced the dizzy past the point that the mount allows. The engine started running smoother, sounding better, and the idle also picked up. Vacuum advance is hooked up, return line is blocked off again, carbs are set at 2 1/2 turns ( a little rich). Its running strong with nothing that would make me nervous about taking it for a trip besides knowing that the timing is off and the idle that tries to drop too low because I havent messed with the carbs/linkages yet (everything is just touching where its supposed to be).

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71' 240Z: HLS3040666

Congrats, sounds great!

I'm wondering if the the wires are off just one position on the distributer. I bet if you move them each one position clockwise on your distributer you will be able to get the timing adjusted within the adjustment range of the distributer. My guess is when you figured out where the rotor was pointing when number one cam lobes were up that the lobes weren't perfectly in the right position. The distributer was probably not zeroed either.

You can probably get the carbs close, but if you want to get them right on get a colortune spark plug. It helps to dial in the fuel mixture perfectly. It's easy to get the airflow equal with a air flow meter, but the fuel mixture is sometimes tough to get just right.

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Rob
1971 240z